[gambit-list] some feedback from a newbie

Vijay-Kumar.Varanasi at ubs.com Vijay-Kumar.Varanasi at ubs.com
Fri Sep 30 04:09:02 EDT 2005


Dear creators of Gambit,
I'm a newbie to Gambit. I'm thrilled with the emacs-key friendly gsi, and the performance of gsc.
Gambit seems to be a real winner in the making. 

However, I couldn't help wonder why the mailing list interface at http://mailman.iro.umontreal.ca/mailman/listinfo/gambit-list is so.....dry. For example, the lack of a Search function and "Prev in Thread/Next in Thread" functionality (though the latter is not much of a problem). It unfortunately gives a very dry feel about Gambit as a whole.

A couple of suggestions:
1. Communication : One gets the feel that the creators must be really good at what they are doing, and know how much better Gambit is going to get! It's exciting, I tell you, my imagination!! :))
However, this knowledge of direction is not clear to users like me. Clarify the intent and future direction of Gambit so that potential users do not turn away due to not being kept in the loop. I mean things like : Who are you? No need of photos, even just a brief description of who the authors of Gambit are, clearly mentioned, on http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~gambit/ would do some good. (The current alternative is to figure out by reading the archives). Is Gambit going to be an active, open-sourced project? What are you working on right now? etc; Maybe a blog by the developers with a weekly update? So that you guys dont waste too much time communicating.

2.  Community : Encourage multiple levels of communication and knowledge. New users need to be unafraid to ask silly questions and get expert advice while you, the creators, maintainers and experts of Gambit can remain "higher order" in a separate forum to discuss the big issues and hairy complications. Maybe a "gambie" (gambit newbie :) ) list can help? Again, I'm hoping that you guys can do this without wasting too much time. Maybe shift to Google groups or use BB Forum, etc;...

What do you think?

Look forward to future releases! :)

- Vijay


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